The local office on aging if there is one), can link her with daily visitors who can oversee med compliance and alert when there are probs.

There is a national animal welfare program which places carefully screened healthy older pets with seniors (seniors for seniors) program. The website, Petfinder.org, can get you to local organizations that have this program.

I'm a hard-bitten man, who enjoys making the client's engineers scream when I tell them they've messed up.But when I read this, my eyes teared up. Must be the pollen in the air here...(My wife and I have 4 cats, and we take better medical care of them than we do our own)

Most docs would have assumed the reason for her decline was "she's old.". I can't think of one doc I know that would have made the effort to get her to come in. I KNOW I don't know any who would have asked the questions (or listened to the answers...) that led to such a non-medical issue being the root of the problem. Bravo. You may be a cranky old coot, but that doesn't mean you can't be a prince among men. How about one of those electronic pill boxes that beeps an alarm at pill time?

Wow - how heartwarming that so many softies read this blog! I used to do senior/special needs animal rescue (think hospice for companion and farm animals), and it's great to read of so much support for two and four-legged seniors! Maybe those of you with well-mannered dogs could hook up with an organization that does home visits - there are so many folks who would love a slurpy kiss and a warm cuddle - from the dog, too!

I hope Dr. G will keep us apprised of this lady's condition. Heartbreaking, but with possibilities for feeling better. (Is there a Grumpy family dog in Dr. G's waiting room future? LOL)

It wasn't the timing of the meds, it was the loss of the dog, that caused her turn. You have to be a dog person to know.I once had a client who died in her 90s with a dog. I asked my sister a non dog person from the get go, who lived nearby if she would take the dog in for a few days. That few days became 10 years, when the dog died she adopted 2 more.

From behind the pharmacy counter, this is at least someone who took her meds regularly. Of course, I once, in exasperation, told a patient to eat a Chick-Fil-A sandwich with her first dose and eat breakfast promptly at 7:15 for each subsequent dose. Perhaps she would be better off getting a dog. Actually, that would help her on so many levels. Wonder if Aetna would cover it?????

Dr. G, I was thinking--you could expand on this post a little and submit it as a guest post on the vets behaving badly blog. I think they'd welcome your submission. We certainly enjoy your comments there. :)

I know personally of one case, a good friend of mine, who was "rescued" from PTSD, depression and other ailments because he adopted a dog. He even has stickers on the house saying "In case of fire, please rescue the dog".

In his case, I truly believe that the dog "rescued" his owner, rather than the other way around.We try to organise fund raising when we can for our local 'no-kill shelter'...

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

Singing Foo!

Have Dr. Grumpy delivered automatically to your Kindle for only 99 cents a month! Sign up here!

Dr. Grumpy is for hire! Need an article written (humorous, medical, or otherwise) or want to commission a genuine Grumpy piece for your newspaper/magazine/toilet paper roll? Contact me to discuss subjects. You can reach me at the email address below, or through my Linked-In profile.

Note: I do not answer medical questions. If you are having a medical issue, see your own doctor. For all you know I'm really a Mongolian yak herder and have no medical training at all except in issues regarding the care and feeding of Mongolian yaks.